Building Better Cities with Young Children and Families
How to engage our youngest citizens and families in city building: a global scan of best practices
Malmรถ, Sweden
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FOREWORD
C
ities provide essential programs, services, and amenities to young children as well as their caregivers and family. Municipalities are tasked with delivering daycare services, constructing playgrounds and managing transportation networks, which are essential to the healthy development of young children and supporting their caregivers. These municipal responsibilities prove that it really does take a village (or a city) to raise a child. Far too often, however, civic leaders neglect to engage with young children and caregivers to ensure the city decision making reflects the needs of this particular group. Town hall meetings to discuss new developments or major infrastructure projects are common. These conversations rarely happen in settings or formats that are appropriate to invite feedback and meaningful input from children and their caregivers. Meaningful community engagement is the only way to ensure that the voices of vulnerable populations are considered in the city building process. This is especially important for citizens below the legal voting age who have no other means of shaping of the world around them. 8 80 Cities believes that cities are better when they are created to meet the needs of young children and older adults. Cracks in a sidewalk, long wait times for buses, or streets without benches are inconvenient for everyone, but can severely limit the freedom of mobility for
young children, caregivers with strollers, or older adults with mobility devices. When we create separated and connected bike lanes that are safe for children to use, we create a cycling network that works for all residents. When we design a streetscape to accommodate resting places for older adults with benches and shade, we create inviting public spaces for everyone to enjoy. At its core, engaging young children and caregivers in city building is about extending the freedom of mobility and the accessibility of public spaces for everyone. We wanted to understand how cities around the world are tackling this challenge to ensure the voices of young children and caregivers are represented in their built environment. Through our own work as community engagement specialists, we know there is critical gap in knowledge and research on these topics. Partnering with the Bernard van Leer Foundation we set out to identify innovative and effective techniques for engaging this important but hard-to-reach demographic. This work began with extensive background research and in-depth interviews with leading practitioners in the field to discover existing resources and knowledge. We collected 21 case studies from 16 different countries and uncovered stories and ideas that demonstrate effective methods for engaging young children and caregivers in diverse aspects of city building.
We set out looking for cities and communities that are leading the charge when it comes to engaging young children and caregivers. We were unable to find any model cities where civic engagement is embedded across all departments and aspects of city life. The good news is that we found incredible stories of innovative programs or individual community leaders who are pushing for more inclusive approaches for city building. This report is a starting point. The case studies and principles are meant to spark deeper thinking and meaningful dialogue about the importance of engaging these demographics. While the examples are inspiring, this report is also a reminder that the status quo is not enough. City governments need to do more to integrate the needs of this often invisible but important group into decision-making processes. Civic engagement is a critical component of city building. We know that cities are better when they are designed to meet the needs of all residents. This leads to more equitable, accessible, and successful cities overall. We also know that municipal governments cannot speak to all residents about all areas of jurisdiction. Fortunately, we have discovered a short cut. If you engage and design for the most vulnerable residents (ie. children, older adults, disabled people), you end up creating a city that works for everyone. We call this idea the 8 80 City rule. 3
West Palm Beach, USA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1
INTRODUCTION
2
BEST PRACTICES
3
Executive Summary
6 8
Young Children, Caregivers, and Pregnant Women
10
Identifying Basic Barriers
11
Overcoming Basic Barriers Engagement Methods
MOVING FORWARD
12 16 24
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What Cities Can Do
50
Afterword
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Appendix: List of Expert Interviewees
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Appendix: Resources
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Toronto, Canada
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INTRODUCTION
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For children 0-5 the activities need to be more about getting them excited and engaged in the larger process. Kathryn Lusk, KaBOOM!
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Saanich, Canada
Executive Summary What we already know We know that when we create a city around the needs of our most vulnerable citizens (children, older adults, the poor, the disabled), we build a city that is great for everyone. Unfortunately, over the last 50 years, the health and wellbeing of children has not been the cornerstone of any significant urban planning policy. However, the tide is changing. Age-friendly and child-friendly designations are of growing interest globally. Our own 8 80 City concept has been a simple yet powerful communication tool to help paint a picture of the kind of cites we want to grow up in and grow old in. The Urban95 Strategy, led by the Bernard van Leer Foundation, also aims to challenge the status quo and elevate the discourse on child-friendly cities by highlighting the specific needs of very young children – how would we plan a city differently from the perspective of 95 centimeters (the average height of a 3 year old child)?
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We also know that, for the most part, the voices of young children, their parents and caregivers, and pregnant women have been underrepresented in traditional city building processes and overall civic engagement strategies. What’s more, where city governments have made conscious efforts to actively seek the participation and consultation of children, much of the existing methodologies tend to focus almost exclusively on the later years (ages 5 and up).
The questions we wanted to answer
What did we find?
8 80 Cities, in partnership with the Bernard van Leer Foundation, set out to answer the following questions in this joint research project:
Using a mix of background research, placebased research, and interviews with over 20 researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and thought-leaders, we have compiled our key learnings into this resource document.
1. Which cities are the pioneers in inclusive civic engagement processes with families and caregivers with young children? 2. What strategies have produced the best results for including the perspectives of young children, their parents and caregivers, and pregnant women? 3. What are some key engagement principles to consider when working with this specific target group?
Our first scan of background research left us feeling there was very little information on good practices on engaging young families in city building processes. Broadening our frame to looking outside of the urban planning field yielded great inspiration on tactics, strategies, and principles for engagement. Since our scope was global, we relied heavily on secondary sources and our existing partner networks. This is not a comprehensive research analysis, but more a high-level survey of the state of practice, and our interpretation of the data we collected over the course of three months. We also found our first research question was flawed. Some of the most exciting and exemplary work is not happening at a city-
wide scale. This made it difficult to develop an accurate shortlist of cities that were excelling in engaging children ages 0-5 and their caregivers/families. Instead, we found that the best methodologies were very local and specific to certain contexts and challenges. The purpose of this document is to inform, inspire, and highlight some of the great work being done on this topic. We believe the best way for us to provide value to the existing body of work on engaging young children, families, caregivers and pregnant women on city building initiatives is to provide a concise, visually appealing resource tool with some snapshots and case studies of some of the most innovative and interesting projects that we came across. We have also included a list of other resources and tools that we found compelling and aided us in defining our key principles.
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Young Children, Caregivers, and Pregnant Women If it takes a village to raise a child, doesn’t it also require the perspective of the child to create a successful village? Since most children on this planet are now living in cities we may reframe this question for modern times as follows: If we know that experiences in the earliest years of life have the most profound effect on a person’s healthy development, how can our cities better address the needs of young children, their caregivers, and pregnant women? How can we create the mechanisms and processes that not just allow but encourage their participation in decisionmaking and help plan, shape, and build more liveable cities for all?
Why focus on young children, their caregivers, and pregnant women? Research shows that experiences in the earliest years of life play a fundamental role in lifelong learning, behaviour, and health. What researchers call our “brain architecture” is built starting from day 1 on this earth (and even before that). Our emotional and physical health, social skills, and cognitive abilities 10
that emerge in the early years are not only important for success in school and the workplace, but also the community at large (Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University 2016). Research on the biology of stress shows that healthy development can be derailed by toxic stress (prolonged activation of our stress response systems). Young children (ages 0-5) are particularly vulnerable, given their developing brains. How can our communities support healthy development of children? Step one is giving them a voice, and giving the people who care for them a chance to articulate their needs to thrive and develop to their full potential. Stress is an inevitable and normal experience for anyone, and especially for young families. Any caregiver of young children or parent will tell you their overall daily “cognitive load” is quite high. Is the way we design our cities and our community engagement strategies providing an opportunity to lessen the load or add to it?
Similarly, for pregnant women, it is not only a time of rapid physical changes, but also a time of increased demands on mental and emotional functions. Not only are pregnant women and soon to be parents bombarded with lots of new responsibilities and information, they are immersed in a time of planning for the future. How can we create opportunities for this group to participate in building a city they want their children to grow up in? Research shows that cities that are attractive to young families benefit from a stronger, more robust economy. "Come from a perspective that it’s a shared responsibility. Parents, schools and the community must encourage development and learning for children." - Elena Lopez Global Family Research Project
Identifying Basic Barriers
To Reaching Young Children, Caregivers, and Pregnant Women
Before engaging young children, caregivers, and pregnant women in the process of city building, it’s necessary to recognize the basic barriers to reaching them and connecting with them in the first place.
Pregnant women Expectant mothers are in period of time when they are planning and making many decisions about their future. Behaviour change theorists contend that times of big life changes (such as having a baby) are also times to reinforce and establish new routines. This has been applied for the benefit of establishing healthy habits from a public health perspective. It is an underresearched and not a target group identified in the livable cities and city building discourse.
Caregivers and babies (0-2) Babies and other non-verbal children are limited in their capacity to provide direct feedback as part of an engagement process. However, caregivers (parents, nannies, babysitters, grandparents) are the best proxy
for understanding the needs of the very young, when it comes to creating better cities for all. As most caregivers are adults, there is broad array of methods to engage them. However, when with babe in arms, there is already a good amount of their attention both physically and mentally taken up.. That said, families and caregivers of young children are especially protective of their time. Methods that are simple, easy, and quick are the best bet.
Young Children (3-5) Traditional engagement often involves sit down meetings and interviews –not exactly a good method for a squirmy 3 year-old or rambunctious 5 year-old. Moreover, young children who are just learning to speak may struggle with terms that adults regularly use, especially when it comes to issues such as city planning. Re-orienting adult facilitators to the capacity of young children, their habits, and what to expect from them ensures the engagement is productive and mutually beneficial for children as a learning opportunity.
Training facilitators on how to best engage with children also helps break down both the power imbalance and physical imbalance in height, an area the Urban95 initiative sheds light on. Adults often speak down to children and their larger physical size can be intimidating for children. The imbalanced relationship needs to be shifted so children feel equal and valued. Those working in the realm of city planning have much to learn from early childhood educators and caregivers who are accustomed to connecting with young children in a meaningful way.
Rio de Janeiro(CECIP)
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West Palm Beach, USA
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BEST PRACTICES
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Building relationships of trust (we call it bond building) takes time. It’s a slow process and the team needs to be patient and have perseverance. Claudia Ceccon, CECIP, Brazil
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Case Studies Around the World 3
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West Palm Beach, Florida, USA Ethiopia, India, Peru, Vietnam
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Ontario, Canada
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All across North America
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Copenhagen, Denmark
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Massachusetts, USA
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Iowa, USA
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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
P.25
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Across the world
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Across the world
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Colorado, USA
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Tel Aviv, Israel
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Kent, UK
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Boa Vista, Brazil
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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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India
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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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14
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Oslo, Norway
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Bangladesh, China, Congo, Ethiopia, Yemen Communities across USA
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Overcoming Basic Barriers
To Reaching Young Children, Caregivers, and Pregnant Women
Given the barriers to reaching young children, their caregivers, and pregnant women, it is necessary to tailor an approach that accommodates these groups’ practical needs. This typically involves either a) “going to them” and meeting them where they are, or b) creating an environment that is comfortable and convenient enough for them to “come to you”. Either situation requires engagement staff to be flexible so that they can adequately accommodate families. The following best practices and case studies explain in detail how to overcome the initial barrier of reaching and recruiting young children, their caregivers, and pregnant women in city building engagement processes.
Recommendation #1:
Partner with trusted community organizations "Local organizations play a vital role in connecting us to the community. They connect families to each other and to 16
resources. Ultimately, they build social capital, especially for isolated families." - Elena Lopez, Global Family Research Project Local community organizations act as an excellent bridge to community members. Having already gone through the process of building a trusting, long-term relationship with the community, these organizations are critical partners in the engagement process. To bring these community organizations on board, it’s important to identify how your engagement initiative aligns with or strengthens the work they already do. Once a partnership has been established, they can provide space to host engagement events, incorporate the engagement activities into their regular programming, and/or help recruit participants for your engagement process. In certain cases, it may be necessary to provide these partners with payment for their services.
Case Study #1
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Recommendation #2:
Reach families in their home and during other routine activities Families are a busy unit, with many competing priorities. “Going to them” involves finding opportunities to engage with families in spaces they normally frequent, during their regular routines, or even in their own homes. Given how intimate these interactions can be, oftentimes this means partnering with longstanding local organizations that already work directly with the target groups and have a positive presence in the community. These organizations can help vouch for your engagement initiative and introduce you to willing participants in the community.
Case Study #2
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Case Study #1
Historic Northwest Rising: Sunset Lounge and Area Revitalization 1. Partner with trusted local organizations
Project Profile City: West Palm Beach, USA Organization: West Palm Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Partners: 8 80 Cities, Better Block, Mosaic Group, Dr. Alisha Winn, Surale Phillips Partnership: Public: Municipal + Local Project Date: 2016- ongoing Target Group: parents and caregivers, children Gyorgy Papp Photography
Context
Notes for Application
In 2016, the City of West Palm Beach purchased an aging, historic jazz lounge and the vacant property adjacent to it, in hopes of reviving it as a cultural hub for community members. The CRA hired a team of consultants that specialize in community engagement to gather residents’ ideas for transforming this site into a true community asset.
• Understand the motivations of the community organizations and how your engagement initiative supports the work that they do.
Methods and Strategies As outsiders, the consultants had no connection to the community members they were seeking to speak to. They partnered with local community organizations, who then allowed the consultants to host engagement sessions in their spaces. The local organizations promoted these events, and staff were often present at the events to help facilitate dialogue and frame the issues. The team visited a local child care center to speak about the project with the parents during their weekly parent meeting. They also brought colourful, oversized survey boards to aftercare programs during playtime and invited the young children to draw or write down their ideas. In addition to this, they worked with local churches, who agreed to let them survey their congregation before or after services. As a result, the consultant team was able to gather ideas and input from children and families, many of whom had previously never participated in a community planning process.
• To build trust within the community, invest time visiting the community, mapping the people and forming relationships with local leaders. To build the familiarity and bond with the community, participate in community events, even though they may not necessarily be directly linked or relevant to your initiative. • To capture the largest range of responses, engagement activities need to span various locations at different times of the day. • Don’t promise on anything you can’t deliver on. Let the community know what you are doing, what they can expect from you, what you hope to achieve and how and where their valuable input will contribute to. Having a strong, open line of communication is valuable to building the relationship of trust and making it clear they can approach you with their concerns.
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Case Study #2 Young Lives 2. Reach families in their home and during other routine activities
Context
Methods and Strategies
Young Lives is a longitudinal study following the lives of children in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam over 15 years. Young Lives collects quantitative and qualitative data on the drivers and impacts of child poverty and works collaboratively in an effort to influence policymakers to improve the lives of poor children and families. Since 2002, local research teams have collected quantitative and qualitative data every few years through surveys and structured conversations at household and school levels. For children aged 7 and under, Young Lives engages with caregivers to develop a comprehensive picture of childhood in these contexts.
In each country, the local research team develops long-term relationships of mutual trust with the families, so laying a strong foundation for the success of the longitudinal study. Researchers get to know the families’ schedules and meet with them when and where it’s most convenient. The location and nature of the interviews varies. For example, sometimes qualitative researchers accompany families on their errands and activities, which could mean conducting the interviews while families are cooking in the kitchen or tending to the crops in their field. In the spirit of reciprocity, Young Lives provides participating families with information about the results of the research and compensates families for the time they give in interviews, with notebooks for children or small food items for the household.
Ethiopia (Antonio Fiorente, Young Lives)
India (Sarika Gulati, Young Lives)
Project Profile City: Oxford, UK; focus countries: Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam Organization: Young Lives Partners: University of Oxford Department of International Development, local offices in each focus country Partnership: Academic/institutional Project Date: 1994-ongoing Target Group: families and children 18
Young Lives
Notes for Application • When preparing for the home visit, consider how the local cultural norms and customs impact the nature of the home visit and plan accordingly. • The quality standards of the program must be consistent across the board, to ensure each family receives the same high quality of service provided. Thorough training of engagement staff ensures that the facilitators are equipped with the necessary skills to navigate different situations with families, and to appropriately alter their approach within the set framework, to best suit the needs of the family. • Strategically choose locations that are preferred and appropriate according to the community’s children and families. • Be context appropriate. Think about: the pace of passers-by; how much time people typically spend in the area; the kinds of activities they participate in there; constraints on privacy; ensure you are not disrupting important functions carried out in the space. • Be prompt and organised for interviews. Engagement should respect the time and schedules of participating families, thus requiring some degree of flexibility. Revisit data use and consent with research participants explaining how information collected from them will be anonymised and processed to the highest standards of ethical research conduct.
Vietnam (Young Lives)
Source: Eurochild (2012). Compendium of Inspiring Practices: Early Intervention and Prevention in Family and Parenting Support. 65-72. http://www.eurochild.org/fileadmin/public/05_Library/Thematic_ priorities/03_Family_Parenting_Support/Eurochild/Early_intervention_ and_prevention_in_family_and_parenting_support.pdf
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Recommendation #3:
Recommendation #4:
Provide compensation Getting the target groups to “come to you” may require organizers to provide a package of incentives from the outset. Families, especially those with low incomes, are crunched for time and resources. Any form of compensation demonstrates the organizer’s respect and appreciation for their time, while upholding the values of equity and fairness. Compensation is heavily shaped by the local context and what is deemed culturally appropriate. In some cases, it is appropriate to provide meals, groceries, transit passes, and/or childcare. In other contexts, it’s more appropriate to provide families with information and connections to training opportunities, resources, and referrals. If an engagement process is especially time consuming, consider paying families for their participation. Consult with local organizations who already work with your target group to see what might be the most effective incentive.
Case Study #3
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Recommendation #5:
Incorporate engagement methods into existing children’s programming Organized institutions like schools and daycares are ideal places to engage children. These are places where young children spend time on a set schedule, in a consistent location. Other institutions like libraries, museums, and botanical gardens that offer children’s educational programming are also good places to engage children in your initiative. This requires working in advance with the administration to ensure that your engagement initiative aligns with the institution’s educational objectives. Schools and institutions may also be compelled to participate in an engagement initiative if it enhances their community as children’s advocates.
Case Study #4
Embed opportunities for children’s learning and engagement in the built environment Children are constantly learning and absorbing new information wherever they go, not just in formal learning environments. There are many ways to incorporate children’s learning and engagement in various aspects of a city’s built environment. Whether it’s an educational matching game at a bus stop, a poster prompting a young child to make specific observations about their surroundings, or a library in a laundromat, all spaces can be designed to engage children in learning onthe-go. While this method fails to capture information from the target group, it is useful for sharing information or prompting children/ families to think about certain topics.
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Case Study #3 Babies First 3. Provide compensation
Project Profile City: Peterborough, Canada Organization: Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program Project Date: 1993-ongoing Target Group: pregnant women Pixabay
Context
Notes for Application
Babies First is a prenatal nutrition program focused on helping women prepare for labour, birth, and the transition to parenthood in a highly supportive environment. The program targets pregnant women who are facing challenging life circumstances.
• Always provide refreshments at an engagement session.
Methods and Strategies Prior to launching the program, the Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program (CPNP) wanted to consult with women from low-income backgrounds to co-design the Babies First program. Their input would then help shape the delivery of the service and how it might integrate with other health and social services. CPNP stated upfront that they would pay the women for their time. Not only that, they provided participants with transportation, childcare, a morning snack and lunch, a $15 per week gift certificate for food, access to a pound of frozen ground beef, a bag of frozen vegetables and orange juice from an on-site freezer. CPNP understood the barriers to participation for the group of women they want to engage, and developed a program and budget to meet those needs.
• For time-intensive engagements, such as needs assessments or focus groups, pay the participants for their time. • Manage expectations and communicate details about the incentives at the outset. • Different groups have different barriers to engagement. Think about how the intersections of gender, race, class, culture, language ability, and physical ability inform a person’s desire or ability to participate in an engagement initiative, and how you can accommodate that.
For more information, visit: http://www.beststart.org/resources/ anti_poverty/pdf/prog_mgr_guide.pdf
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Case Study #4 Natural Learning Initiative 4. Incorporate engagement methods into existing children’s programming
Project Profile City: Communities across North America Organization: Natural Learning Initiative Partners: daycare centers, schools and non-formal education centers Partnership: Academic/institutional Project Date: 2000-ongoing Target Group: children 0-8 year olds 22
Natural Learning Initiative
Context
Notes for Application
The Natural Learning Initiative (NLI), out of the North Carolina State University promotes the importance of children’s daily interaction with the natural environment. NLI works with communities to design and re-design places to children’s play, learning and environmental education. NLI’s projects are integrated into existing programming in communities where children already spend time regularly.
• Program activities to incorporate learning opportunities for children so there is a valuable benefit to the partner to include you into their existing programming.
Methods and Strategies
"With small children you have to remember that it is the microplaces they value, these are special places and meaningful places for them not necessarily for us (adults)" - Nilda Cosco Natural Learning Initaitve
NLI promotes children’s interaction with the natural environment by integrating activities and workshops into existing children’s programming. They engage children by incorporating outdoor learning opportunities into the daycare centers’ and schools’ daily lesson plans. Activities include workshops, child-led tours, and map and model-making. NLI also regularly works in non-formal educational settings like zoos, museums, and botanical gardens that are increasingly interested in providing children’s programming. These spaces are a rich opportunity for children to interact with the natural environment. These institutions are willing partners as children’s programming helps broaden the appeal of these institutions to families and other future members/donors.
• Ask teachers and staff at the school/ institution to co-facilitate the activities to help foster the relationship between the project facilitators and the children.
Heritage Park Natural Learning Environment (Raleigh, USA)
Image source: https://naturalearning.org/sites/default/files/sidebar_ imgs/ServiceRaleighTreePlanting.JPG?1303169776
Case Study #5 Brain Builder Project 5. Embed opportunities for children’s learning and engagement in the built environment
Project Profile City: Massachusetts, USA Organization: United Way of Massachusetts Bay & Merrimack Valley Partners: Massachusetts Department of Early Education, and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Partnership: non-profit + public Project Date: ongoing Target Group: children 0-5 years old United Way Mass Bay
Context
Notes for Application
Brain Building in Progress (BBIP) is a public awareness campaign in Massachusetts geared towards families and stakeholders outside the field of early childhood education to build awareness about the importance of investing resources and time in young children. To create opportunities for children’s learning in everyday spaces ‘Brain Building Zones’, strategic partnerships with local agencies and businesses were formed.
• Take advantage of everyday spaces children and parents already occupy to incorporate learning opportunities
Methods and Strategies The BBIP campaign partnered with various businesses and agencies to include Brain Building Zones in their spaces.
• Design graphics and games which are eyecatching, with bright colours and large text • Form partnerships with services and businesses that traditionally have no connection to early childhood development yet oftentimes host children in their spaces. Use these spaces to demonstrate that children’s learning and development happens everywhere and all the time.
In Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) locations, they created a ‘License to Learn’ program where children accompanying their parents to the RMV locations could learn about crossing the street safely, wearing a helmet while riding a bike, and the importance of wearing a seatbelt in the car. BBIP partnered with the local transportation authority to transform subways and bus lines into brain building moments. Advertisements were placed in subways and bus stops to prompt parents to create teachable moments during public transit rides.
Grandmother helping grandson read on the "T" subway (Boston, USA)
For more information, visit: http://www.hfrp.org/hfrp-news/newsannouncements/brain-building-in-progress Image source: http://www.hfrp.org/var/hfrp/storage/fckeditor/File/file/ Snapshots/300-BBT_HR_26.jpg
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Engagement Methods Innovative and effective practices for engaging young children (0-5), caregivers, and pregnant women You’ve effectively overcome barriers and reached your target group. Now what?
Recommendation #1:
Start with the right atmosphere "There are so many wonderful children, they don't feel confident to talk. I think introverts are very special and that we need to have their view." - Yolanda Corona Caravo Metropolitan Autonomous University Think of some of the best conversations you’ve had at social gatherings. Chances are the atmosphere was comfortable, relaxed, and interesting. Whatever the location, there are ways to create an environment that caters to your audience. Familiar locations, some 24
simple food and drinks, and activities that allow for participation from a broad range of personalities can help create the kind of atmosphere where people, no matter their age, feel comfortable to open up and share ideas. Since most traditional civic engagement is organized by adults for adults, there is often an overarching bias to ‘adapt’ existing methodologies designed for adults for children. As we see it, this is often wellmeaning but missing the mark. Creating a truly child-centered engagement approach means first thinking of the environments that make young children most comfortable, creative, and expressive. Outside in a familiar setting, in a playful space, with freedom of movement and surrounded by trusted caregivers is a good start.
Case Study #6
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Recommendation #2:
Know your audience and ensure facilitators have been adequately trained Whether the audience is pregnant women, parents and caregivers, young children, or a mix of ages, facilitators need to be adequately trained to engage with their audience. If the target group is also stigmatized or facing difficult life circumstances, it is vital to obtain special training and form partnerships with trusted community organizations with expertise in working with vulnerable populations.
Case Study #7
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Case Study #6 Make a Place for People: Dundonald Park 1. Start with the right atmosphere
Context
Notes for Application
8 80 Cities partnered with the Centretown Community Health Center (CCHC) to develop a strategy for the design, programming and management of the under-used Dundonald Park in Ottawa through a process of community engagement.
• Choose a venue or setting young children and families are already familiar with like a local park, community center, library or school.
Methods and Strategies 8 80 Cities and CCHC engaged the young children, seniors and everyone in between with free snacks and activities such as hula-hooping, yoyoing, tai chi while community members shared their ideas about transforming the park. Children could move around, be creative and explore the park to provide their input. The pop-up engagement activities took place right in Dundonald Park so users could actively reflect on the park and provide their input. The users were familiar and comfortable with the park which made them more willing to share their thoughts.
• Be creative in the range of comforts you provide such as big signage of your activity for easy way-finding, free snacks and equipment for children’s activities. • Be sensitive to the topic of the engagement activity as more sensitive topics are better suited for more private spaces.
Project Profile City: Ottawa, Canada Organization: 8 80 Cities Partners: Centretown Community Health Centre Partnership: Non-profit, public: local Project Date: 2012-2013 Target Group: All ages
8 80 Cities
Group activities are a fun way to create a childrenfriendly atmosphere and engage families. (Ottawa, Canada)
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Case Study #7 Child-to-Child Adult Training 2. Know your audience and ensure facilitators have been adequately trained
Project Profile City: Various cities all over the world Organization: Child to Child Partners: Local community groups, local schools Partnership: Non-profit, public Project Date: Ongoing Target Group: Adults working with children 26
Child to Child
Context
Methods and Strategies
Child to Child is a rights-based approach that empowers children with the knowledge and competences they need to have a voice in the issues and decisions that affect their lives. It equips children with the skills to work together so that they can become active partners in the realization of their rights, effectively promoting health, education, child protection and wellbeing in the community.
The local staff training process takes place over the course of five days. Each morning, staff receive training in how to coach and promote leadership in children, in addition to learning about specific tools and exercises they can use in their work with children. In the afternoons, they test out what they had learned in the morning with a group of older children. In the beginning, they work on easy topics that won’t overwhelm the children. Gradually they move on to more difficult topics. During the workshop, staff create tools from readilyavailable materials for use in their own communities. The format of this training allows staff to immediately implement what they have learned and to gradually build on their skills and knowledge throughout the week.
Child to Child enables important exchanges to occur between children, who are closer in age, and breaks free from the traditional model of adults engaging with young children in activities. Child to Child takes a “train the trainer” approach. An expert in the Child to Child method will train local program staff, who will then go on to train children, who will then engage their peers - both same aged, older and younger - in a range of activities that address key issues affecting children in that community. The training helps build confidence among the local staff, and empowers them to continue to offer support, supervision, and resources in the on-going Child to Child exchanges. Effective adult support and facilitation is key with Child to Child, at least in the initial stages, whilst children develop their competence, skills and leadership. Adults working with the children need to understand how to facilitate and not direct, how to empower and to relinquish control.
Notes for Application • In addition to providing local staff with new tools for engaging children, trainings should focus on recognizing children’s natural leadership, ability to analyze their situation, and their right to participate in issues that affect them. • Consider implementing an iterative training process, as Child to Child has done, where trainees have an opportunity to test out their newfound knowledge in a real world setting and adjust their methods accordingly.
• Prior to testing out the training with children, the staff should practice the tools and techniques with each other. • Child to Child can be used to engage children on any topic, and it can be employed wherever children are found. Child to Child can be employed wherever children are found, not only in schools and aftercare programs, but in markets, neighborhoods, and refugee camps.
• Children need to be the ones to name the issue or concern. Facilitators can provide a general framework; however children must be in charge of the project and select the issue they care about. Only then will they feel committed to investing time to teach/ engage.
• The activities must be child-friendly and must occur in child-appropriate environments where children are comfortable and familiar with the setting.
Recommendation #3:
Capture children’s understanding of their spatial environment i. Child-led tours When children lead tours, we get a glimpse into how children view spaces untainted by adults’ perspective of the spaces. When adults lead tours for children, they imprint their viewpoint of the space on children and take away the opportunity for children to understand the spatial environment from their own perspective. By empowering children to lead tours, we remove one layer of bias adults add, which helps meet the sole purpose of engaging with children in the first place –to hear their thoughts and opinions. In addition to the difference in age/mental capacity of understanding things from children’s worldview, their viewpoint is also different because of their height, size, and abilities. Children see things differently; they may want to explore places by jumping, rolling, sliding, crouching –using all their senses. This is crucial for their development in many ways, not to mention it makes their unique perspective valuable to the shaping of city building processes.
Case Study #8 Children in Sierra Leone raising awareness and educating their peers on issues affecting them. (Child to Child)
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ii. Kids mapping exercises
iii. Photos/visual media
iv. Technology
When children create maps, they are creating a 2-D representation of how they interpret their physical environment. They are curators of the map and what they choose to emphasize or exclude speaks volumes about their perceptions and preferences. Map-making prompts children to reflect on their thoughts on the components of the physical environment, as they decide how to represent it on the map. Map-making is a learning opportunity for children to interpret their sensory experiences into a visual format. It develops their understanding of physical geography. Children have complete ownership of the end product, and are experts on the map and what it represents. The maps are a valuable resource for understanding how children perceive a given environment or place.
Using visual arts and multimedia such as cameras and videos open a door for children to engage creatively and openly. Open-ended mediums like drawing, building, taking pictures give children the room to take ownership over the process and the issues they wish to frame. Children often learn these artistic forms of expression, such as like finger painting, using crayons, and modelling clay, before they can read or write. These are methods which are not right or wrong in their process or result, and can create a sense of pride with children as they are the artists of their masterpieces. When used in the context of engagement, this is a medium that gives children a high level of control over the engagement and the resulting outcomes.
More than ever before, children are accessing technology at very young ages. Whether it is on ipads for tv shows or games, video games or smartphones, children are beginning to have an online presence at a young age. While the use of technology presents issues of safety and privacy, it is also an opportunity to collect data from children on their surroundings. Mobile applications and computer games can be designed in such a way to engage children in a fun and exciting way. Applications can be used to ask children for their input on any given topic they are familiar with. It can be a less intimidating way for children to provide honest feedback, in the comfort of their own space. Maintaining children’s privacy when collecting feedback must be a priority, to ensure their safety and thus data should be collected anonymously.
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Case Study #10
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Case Study #11
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Case Study #12
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Case Study #8 Boulder Civic Area Redevelopment Project 3i. Capture children’s understanding of their spatial environment: child-led tours
Project Profile City: Boulder, Colorado, USA Organization: Growing Up Boulder Partners: Boulder Journey Pre-school, City of Boulder, University of Colorado Community Engagement Research and Design Center (CEDaR) Partnership: Public, non-profit Project Date: 2012 Target Group: 4 year old pre-school children Growing Up Boulder
The Civic Center of Boulder sits in the downtown city core in an area with other municipal buildings, the main library, and park space. Growing Up Boulder (GUB) is an initiative to empower young people to be included in and influence local issues of importance to them, including the redevelopment of the Civic Center area. GUB partnered with the Boulder Journey Pre-school to engage parents and pre-school children in a variety of child-led activities. The input from the activities, documented in the form of drawings, maps, models, public presentations, and a brief project report were incorporated into the feedback for the design of the civic area. Through this project, Growing Up Boulder found the youngest age groups brought up wildlife more than the older age groups. They were captivated by ducks, squirrels, and birds. A GUB coordinator followed up with planning staff to ensure that the children’s input was incorporated into the redevelopment plan.
Methods and Strategies GUB held a picnic with parents and four yearold children of the community in the central park in the civic center area. They divided the children into groups of five and each group boarded a local city bus to do their own visit to the civic center. The children played their way through the space. Each child had an opportunity to lead the tour within their group; each child had 10 minutes to be the
leader and pick a spot in the area they like, and the group followed them to go play in that space. They took leadership to form their opinions of spaces they like, to where they led the group. Parents and staff chaperoned to observe the activities and took pictures and made notes of how the children were engaging with the space. In the following activity, children drew with coloured markers on low-saturation photos of the space what they liked and what improvements were needed to the space. Children presented and discussed their drawings in the workshop. A Senior Urban Designer from the city later visited the pre-school class to talk to them about their participation and the children independently decided to create a large model of the Civic Area to in their classroom that they could rearrange to express their ideas for the space.
Notes for Application • It is important that children are familiar with the context and the specific space the engagement pertains to. • Parents or coordinators of the activity should be at a safe distance from the children leading tour activities, so the children do not feel unsafe, and are able to freely carry out the activity knowing care is nearby if needed. • Give children the independence and authority to draw their own conclusions from the activity and decide how they want to express their input. 29
Context
Case Study #9 Spaces to Play Pilot Project 3ii. Capture children’s understanding of their spatial environment: kids mapping exercises
Project Profile City: Kent, UK Organization: National Children’s Bureau Partners: Learning Through Landscapes Partnership: Institutional, charity Project Date: 2005 Target Group: 3 and 4 year old children 30
National Children's Bureau
The Spaces to Play study set out to explore with young children their understanding and use of the outdoor environment to inform how it ought to be shaped. The project carried out various activities with 28 three and four yearold children to capture their understanding of the physical environment as a starting point for improving the site. The students were from a preschool in Kent, UK. The children were of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, with varying behavioural and physical needs.
Methods and Strategies The Spaces to Play adapted Alison Clark’s Mosaic approach to listening to young children. The Moasic approach is a multimethod, participatory process that recognizes the diversity of children’s voices and treats them as experts and encourages reflection on meanings. Children participated in mapmaking activities of the playground which they discussed with the researchers in small group settings. The children took a tour of the site and had photographs of the site which they drew on top of. The children drew objects they liked and took close-up pictures of them for their map. During conversations with the researcher, the children explained how they liked to use the playground and clarified on inferences the researcher made, referencing the map. This exchange between the children and researcher enabled the children to take control of the meaning-making of the maps.
The mapping activity in combination with the verbal exchange is described as ‘verbal listening’ (Rinaldi 2005) where map-making, photographs, and drawing makes children’s learning visible, through the visuals and maps. The researchers then compiled the children’s comments and photographs into a story book format, with a dog as the main character. Children had conversations with the researcher about the book and provided additional clarifications and comments. The researchers then used all this information to develop a master plan for the space, based on how children use the space and the areas they view as most important. They identified places to keep, places to expand, places to change, and places to add.
Notes for Application • It is important that children visit and are familiar with the site that is being discussed, prior to engaging in the mapmaking activity. Have the children lead the researchers/facilitators on a tour of the site. • Ask open-ended questions about the mapmaking in order to give young children an opportunity to elaborate on their maps. Examples include: “I really like your map. Can you tell me more about it?” “What is your favourite part of the map? Why?” • As with adults, it’s important to close the feedback loop with young children. Review with them how you have interpreted their map-making and update them on how the information will be used to redesign the site.
Different types of play spaces for children. (National Children's Bureau, UK)
For more information, visit: https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/ files/upm-binaries/43997_9781446207529.pdf Images source: https://www.facebook.com/pg/ncbfb/ photos/?ref=page_internal
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Context
Case Study #10 Small Child in Focus (Criança Pequena Em Foco) 3iii. Capture children’s understanding of their spatial environment: photos/visual media
Methods and Strategies The facilitators organized a walk with the children and provided them with cameras to take pictures of what they saw in their community, Favela Santa Marta. Prior to the walk, the facilitators worked with the children on thinking about their neighbourhood, planned with them the route and gave them basic instructions on how to use the camera.
Notes for Application
Project Profile City: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Organization: Centro de Criação de Imagem Popular (CECIP) (Popular Image Creation Center) Partners: Bernard Van Leer Foundation Partnership: Public, non-profit Project Date: 2011-ongoing Target Group: four and five year old children 32
CECIP is a Brazilian civil society organization dedicated to strengthening citizenship through education and communication. The Small Child in Focus Project fosters children’s participation in public policies in Brazil. One of the projects engaged four and five year-old children with digital cameras in shaping their community into a child-friendly place.
• Depending on the objective of the walk, children may have a more general task (take pictures of where you live) or a more specific one (take picture of the things you like; or don’t like; or means of transportation, or animals, and so on).
CECIP
• When out for a photo walk, each facilitator must take care of a manageable number of children. For this project, CECIP had one facilitator for every four children. • Always invite the children to explain what is in the photograph and why they took it. What an adult sees in a photography may be very different than what a child was trying to convey.
Children were provided with cameras to capture places from their perspectives. (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Image source: http://www.cecip.org.br/site/wp-content/ uploads/2014/02/crianca_trailer.png
Case Study #11 Little House, BIG IDEAS, part of PLAY[ground] 3iii. Capture children’s understanding of their spatial environment: photos/visual media
Project Profile City: Sydney, Australia Organization: Hassell Studio Partners: Archikidz and Sydney Living Museums Partnership: Private, not-for-profit Project Date: 2015 Target Group: Young children Hassell Studio
Context
Notes for Application
The international design practice Hassell Studio partnered with the Sydney Living Museums and Archikidz, a not-for-profit which engages children in city design, to create PLAY[ground], a series of interactive installations to give children a voice on the future of cities. “Little House, BIG IDEAS” was one of these installations that transformed Hyde Park Barracks, a Sydney Living Museum. A take on the wooden cubby house, children were invited to come and cover the house entirely in their thoughts on the future of cities.
• When designing a large, multi-day children’s event, remember to think about the parents/caregivers and how the event can also appeal to them.
Methods and Strategies The three-day event was jam-packed with programming, workshops, and fun engagement activities for children. Many children came to leave their mark on the wooden cubby house. The house featured small windows and doors that were optimal for children of all ages. Children plastered the ceiling and walls of the house with their colourful drawings which depicted their imaginative thoughts on the future of cities. The facilitators grouped the drawings and ideas into five prevailing themes, including the future of housing, transportation, “places to breathe”, equity, and fun. The house of ideas with blank wooden walls was a place for children to express themselves through drawing, painting and creating in a playful way. It provides children with their own space to create and express themselves to contribute to a valuable exchange.
• Provide free programming so that all families will feel welcome to attend. • Offer flexible, open-ended activities for children to express their creativity and ideas. • Record children’s explanations of their drawing. How an adult interprets a drawing may very well be different from what a child was hoping to convey.
Archikids PLAY[ground]. (Sydney, Australia)
For more information, visit: https://www.hassellstudio.com/en/cmsurban-futures/stories/little-people-big-ideas Image source: https://storify.com/vtrowell/archikidz-play-ground
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Case Study #12 Traffic Agent Mobile App 3iv. Capture children’s understanding of their spatial environment: technology
Project Profile City: Oslo, Norway Organization: Norway Agency of Urban Environment Target Group: children 34
Jon Skille Amundsen (The Guardian)
Context
Notes for Application
In an attempt to encourage walking and cycling habits within children, the Norway Agency of Urban Environment designed a mobile app to understand children’s concerns about their safety in Oslo and how they use streets. Oslo plans to ban private vehicles from the city centre by 2019. In preparation for this, it is crucial to understand children’s needs and how they can be supported in pursuing active modes of transportation like walking and cycling. The mobile app crowdsources information from children to improve their mobility.
• Be mindful when collecting sensitive data from children • Data protection may be an issue which deters parents and caregivers from allowing children to use such apps • Data should be collected anonymously and stored safely to protect children’s privacy • Consider the target age group of the user to design app accordingly, consider the level of vocabulary, use of photos and graphics, the user interface and ease of navigating through the mobile app
Methods and Strategies With the Traffic Agent mobile app, children are ‘secret agents’ for the city and can record their routes and report any issues they come across such as heavy traffic or a dangerous crossing. The GPS tracks their location so researchers can pinpoint the specific problem areas. In one experience, a child’s mother expressed her son’s excitement when the hazardous bushes on his walk to school were trimmed after he reported them through the Traffic Agent app. In this way, crowdsourcing information from children is a way to build awareness in children of their local surroundings, and the important role they play in improving it. The mobile app ties into the school software program which allocates a unique code for each child to use as a login. Data is anonymously collected and only visible to the app managers and the school.
The app crowdsources data from children to identify issues. (Oslo, Norway)
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2016/ sep/02/app-oslo-children-traffic-road-safety
Recommendation #4:
Use older children as a proxy "For the first couple of months, work on easy topics because kids can get overwhelmed. Focus on easy wins first, then take on more difficult topics. Once the children have had a couple of experiences of planning and implementing actions, they begin to feel truly empowered.� - Celine Woznica, Child to Child The child-to-child methodology enlists and empowers older children as a proxy to teach and engage with younger children. The methodology, meant to be shared, was designed in 1979 by a pediatrician and educational assistant thinking about enhancing the health of two to four year olds. The child-to-child method typically trains and collaborates with older children 8 -12 years old because they are typically the ones in charge of their younger siblings. Older children are closer in age to young children which breaks down differences in generation and age gaps adults share with young children. It empowers children to lead their own systems of engagement and breaks away from the traditional adult-child engagement relationship. When tasked with the role of leadership and responsibility, older children take their role seriously. It is a mutually beneficial method that enhances the learning and development of both groups engaged in learning and teaching.
The child-to-child method can be applied to any area where knowledge and experiences is exchanged between younger and older children. The older children can obtain training, supplies, be motivated and inspire to work with the younger children. In many communities, older children are more accessible than parents because parents are too busy working and providing basic necessities for their families.
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Recommendation #5:
Use storytelling and role playing Storytelling is one of the earliest activities parents and caregivers use with children. Storytelling exposes children to new ideas not possible in their everyday world. They develop emotions and feelings such as empathy or fear by understanding and even relating to the roles characters play. Storytelling and role playing is a great activity to help children grasp a given situation. Design the storyline and characters to prime children on how they will participate. By including easy-to-relate characters, children can easily put themselves in the character’s shoes. Storytelling and roleplay can be applied anywhere, in any context, without any additional materials-which makes it a powerful tool for engagement. All you need is someone to tell a story which situates children to the context, and a group of eager young listeners.
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Context
Case Study #13 Getting Ready for School Programme 4. Use older children as a proxy
Project Profile City: Communities in Bangladesh, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Yemen Organization: Child to Child Partners: UNICEF Partnership: Non-profit, charity Project Date: 2008-2009 Target Group: Young children 36
Child to Child
UNICEF and Child to Child partnered to pilot the child-to-child method in efforts to successfully transition young children into preschool and primary school in communities in Bangladesh, China, Congo, Ethiopia and Yemen. In many of the rural communities, literacy is low and children do not enroll in school on time. They lack the resources, knowledge, and support to join preschool and primary school prepared and on time. The child to child method engages older children in the community as teachers for their younger peers to provide this support. It builds on the Child to Child concept of older children teaching/coaching younger children which in turn, improves their health, knowledge and general well-being. The concept is based on the premise that, in addition to being influenced by their parents and other adults, pre-school children are often cared for and learn from their older siblings and peers. The pilot projects have met with incredible success, especially in Yemen, Congo and Bangladeshprimarily because families and communities were involved in the program from the very start.
Methods and Strategies Older children already in primary school (Young Facilitators) are trained to actively engage with pre-school children (Young Learners) in their community. They meet regularly with the Young Learners at a school
or in the community and take them through a series of fun, interactive learning games and educational activities. The programme comprises 35 sessions which can be delivered at a higher dosage (2/3 times per week) to promote accelerated learning or over a longer period, for example during the course of a school year. Young Facilitators teach children about the basics of reading, writing, and etiquette in the classroom such as how to hold a pen or sit on a chair. The Young Facilitators use inexpensive notebooks, books, toys as tools for teaching. By participating in the programme,Young Learners develop early learning competencies, start school at the right age and achieve key learning outcomes, while the Young Facilitators acquire life skills, gain confidence and feel further motivated to stay in school. Classroom teachers are trained to provide guidance and supervision to the Young Facilitators (students, typically in Grades 4–8). These teachers – often untrained and unqualified – are also equipped with a range of skills to enable them to creatively engage children in classroom learning and use alternative, non-violent approaches to discipline. Parents and caregivers can also be engaged to promote awareness of and increase support for - their children’s education. An evaluation of the program revealed a higher number of on-time primary enrolment for both girls and boys. In Yemen, children involved in
the programme showed significantly higher rates of on time enrolment (83% vs 34%), better social and emotional development, and higher academic performance in literacy than their peers not involved in the programme. Following the success of the UNICEF pilot, GRS was scaled up in Ethiopia; it now comprises one of the Government’s four strategies to promote early learning. By the end of 2014 it had reached 300,000+ children across seven regions and was identified by UNICEF as one of the most promising approaches to provide cost effective and efficient interventions especially for marginalized or deprived populations (UNICEF Briefing Note on the Child to Child Approach to School Readiness, August 2014).
issue or challenge. Facilitators can provide a general framework, however children must be in charge of the project and select the issue that they care about. Only then will they feel committed to investing time to teach/engage • Getting Ready for School interactions between the Young Facilitator and the Young Learner can be occur anywhere – in the home, playground, or schoolyard. The interactions can be regularly scheduled or arranged as convenient by the YF and the YL.
• Materials used for building early numeracy and literacy skills are locally available and can be as simple as small rocks and bottle caps. Older children can teach younger children in ways that are appropriate for children, including through songs and games. • Despite not being a gender-specific programme, GRS has been repeatedly demonstrated to impact positively on attitudes towards girls in communities, challenging traditional gender norms.
Notes for Application • Child to Child can be used to engage children on any topic, including city building issues. For example, older children can help younger children learn about and engage in topics such as safe routes to school, neighbourhood safety, etc. • Child to Child is best employed in a setting where older children normally spend time, such as schools, after care programs, religious school, etc. • The activities must be child-friendly and must occur in child-appropriate environment where the children are comfortable and familiar with the setting. • Children need to be the ones to name the
A grade 9 student taking time to tutor a younger child. (Yemen) 37
Context
Case Study #14 KaBOOM! Playground Equipment 5. Use storytelling and role playing
Project Profile City: cities and communities across U.S Organization: KaBOOM! Partners: various local community groups Partnership: non-profit Project Date: ongoing Target Group: 2-5 year old children 38
Gyorgy Papp Photography
KaBOOM! is a non-profit that engages with children two to twelve years-old to build new playgrounds in their communities. The local community partners are responsible for recruiting the children and families. KaBOOM! provides support by supplying attractive invitational flyers that the community partner hands out in-person, during school pick up/ drop off times where the parents are. The Project Managers host a storytelling activity with children and afterwards meet with parents and community partners to build a wish list for the playground. The manufacturing partner creates three design renders based on the community wish list and the community distributes the design to vote on the best one, which they build with the help of volunteers.
Methods and Strategies KaBOOM! spends a day in the community engaging the children and families to come up with the design focus for the playground. The project kicks off with the Design Day with children. When the age range is primarily younger than 5 years old, the Project Managers start the day by telling the children a story. They have scripts designed for this age group. For the two to five year old age group they supplement the storytelling with props such as a storyboard and laminated cut-out characters. They tell a story about an enthusiastic group of children who get involved in a process to redesign their playground. The children actively
participate by mimicking the motions and sound effects in the story, such as “pretending to dig”, “sliding down”, etc. KaBOOM! staff then tell the students that the group of children are going to get to build a playground just like in the story. They then participate in an hour of activities involving storytelling with puppets, drawing their dream playground, creating a wish list, cutting out their favourite pieces of a playground, and creating a collage. Through storytelling, children are better able to immerse themselves in the task of designing their dream playground.
Notes for Application • Try not to overly influence children’s opinion with the storyline’s ending. The children should be responsible for the coming to their own conclusions of what they would like to see and not see. • Frame the story in a way to inspire and empower young children to participate. • Get children actively engaged in the storytelling process by asking them to mimic the motions or create sound effects to match the storyline.
Recommendation #6:
Elicit information through structured & unstructured play i. Structured play: Gamification Structured play is any activity that has a specific learning objective. Gamification is an exciting method of structured play that integrates game-like elements into traditionally non-game environments to motivate learning, participation, and engagement. Games can be used to engage people of all ages who enjoy the challenges it brings, the competition and collaboration it requires, and the wonderful possibility of winning. Since playing games is a form of play many children are already familiar with, we can leverage that opportunity to structure games to address specific issues. Games are an excellent way engage in problem solving. In the context of city-building, design the game around the context or challenge and provide a logical set of prompts to stimulate idea generation and inspire the group to think creatively.
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ii. Unstructured Play: Toys, props, imagination games, open-ended art exercises Unstructured play is an opportunity to let children’s imagination run wild. They create, explore, act, run, jump, tell stories. Unstructured and free play is crucial to children’s development of social skills, cognitive and physical development and from an engagement point of view. Free play, while open and flexible in its application, does however require a level of structure to help stimulate creativity in children. Unstructured free play, may have implicit rules and directions to help children reach this level of creative thinking and motivation to participate. Their creativity during free plays brings a fresh perspective and unique ideas to the engagement. Activities that encourage and enhance their creative thinking include props such as building blocks and shapes that they use to express themselves. Through openended drawing exercises children freely express their thoughts and control the outcome of the activity. The risk with relying on unstructured play to inform a city building process is that it may not yield useful information for the researcher/ facilitator. It is more useful to use unstructured play as one component of an engagement strategy, as it can help break the ice and prime the young.
Case Study #16 Example of a KaBOOM! Storyboard
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Case Study #15 arki_nopoly 6i. Elicit information through structured play: Gamification
arki_nopoly is a game designed by the Danish design practice arki_lab. arki_lab’s focus is on designing cities with people, using democratic processes, and developing innovative tools and interventions to do so. arki_nopoly follows universally accessible board game principles. That is, it is designed to be played by people of diverse ages and abilities, and only requires adjustments to fit the specific context or site. Every time the game is played around a new area, the map in the centre has to be changed. The objective of the game is for players to recognize the potentials and shortcomings of their immediate surroundings, to understand and reflect on them, and then to finally brainstorm solutions for improvement. It employs and builds on deductive reasoning skills, team work, and creativity. Previously only available in analogue, arki_nopoly is currently in the process of digitization to enhance its accessibility and application all over the world, in any context.
Methods and Strategies Older children and adults can read the instructions and play arki_nopoly on their own, without the help of a facilitator. Young children however would require a facilitator to help guide them through the game and record their comments and observations. Participants identify a site that they would like to focus their attention on. arki_lab designs the board specifically for this site by placing a map of it in
Project Profile City: Copenhagen, Denmark Organization: arki_lab Project Date: ongoing Target Group: all ages 40
arki_lab
the centre of the board game. Various prompts and design thinking methods border the edges of the game and participants follow through the design thinking process as steps in the game. The steps in the game lead the group to compile all the comments and ideas that were generated to brainstorm solutions for the site. The group is encouraged to document the game by keeping a log book, drawing, and taking pictures, all of which can be used to inform the design process for a site.
Notes for Application • For children under the age of 5, it is best to focus on a site of a smaller scale, such as a park, plaza, or school yard. • If time allows, it would be helpful for young children to familiarize themselves with the site by visiting it, just prior to playing the board game. • Birds-eye-view images and maps may be difficult for young children to comprehend. It may be useful to have additional, perspective-view images of the site. • While the game is structured with rules and logical steps, participants should not feel deterred from bending them, or trying something differently. All forms of creative brainstorming and thinking should be encouraged and welcomed.
For more information, visit: http://www.arkilab.dk/arki_nopoly-2/
Context
Case Study #16 Co-designing an experience with 3 and 4 year old children 6ii. Elicit information through unstructured play: toys, props, imagination games, open-ended art exercises
Project Profile City: Iowa City, U.S Organization: University of Iowa Partners: local pre-schools Partnership: institutional, public Project Date: 2016 Target Group: 3 and 4 year old children BBC
The University of Iowa has been working on developing StoryCarnival a webapp to support make-believe play to improve self-regulation in children aged 3 and 4. Researchers engaged children from a local pre-school in 16 sessions of structured free play to co-develop the app with them. By observing children’s interaction with technology and their behaviour during the free play, and meaningfully engaging them through conservation and activities, the researchers learned about what these interactions infer about children’s preferences.
Methods and Strategies The University of Iowa researchers worked with a local pre-school, and through informed consent worked with five children aged three and four on an on-going basis in the preschool. The researchers aimed to build a longterm relationship with the children through the activities. Children participated in nine Experience Design Sessions that employed physical props, encouraged make- belief play and structured free play. While the sessions were flexible to give children room to be creative, have agency and stay excited, they were structured and planned with implicit rules to lead children to a point where they could be creative in free play. For example, the researchers helped them explore the range of what different roles could do in imaginative play. This helped children imagine themselves in the shoes of different characters, promoting
adaptability and feelings of empathy. The researchers gave children physical props such as generic shapes and objects to push the children to use their imagination and to promote symbolic thinking in the free play. Children enjoyed the sensory experience of free play and collaborating with other children. Through the free play with props, they chose what each prop was going to represent, and gave ideas for the themes. These sessions helped inform the prototype of StoryCarnival app which features a storytelling and playplanner component.
Notes for Application • Be flexible with the play sessions and leave as much room for creativity as possible. • Include generic shapes, props and objects to promote children’s symbolic thinking. Use props made of soft materials which would not harm children. Soft material props enable constant manipulation and can stimulate creativity. • Have parents or teachers co-facilitate if you are having a hard time communicating or understanding the children.
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Recommendation #7:
Recommendation #8:
Analyze children’s behaviour through informed observation We can gain a wealth of insight about children’s preferences through informed observation. How they interact with others, the toys and tools they reach towards, and their favourite playing spots reveals information about their habits, likes and dislikes. Informed observation can be an important indicator of their growth and development, and help us identify areas to provide additional assistance in. Informed observations can be conducted by anyone who is trained to work with children and to analyze their behavior. This includes front-line staff like teachers and park staff, or doctors and child psychologists.
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Recommendation #9:
Co-design resources Co-designing resources with families, children or parents can be an effective way to engage these groups in shaping the resources they access. It is designed by them, for them. It is a way for them to have a level of control over how information is delivered to them, and what it should look like. It is a bottom-up approach that empowers people to share their voice. Co-designing a resource is a great source of information and insight into the needs, thoughts, feelings and perceptions of a given group, especially around resources that are visual as they can misrepresent groups due to lack of information.
Case Study #18
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Understand the unique needs of parents and caregivers As children grow quickly in the first five years, parents and caregivers must constantly adapt to children’s changing needs at each stage of life. While juggling child-rearing, employment and paying the bills, parents are often stretched thin. Municipalities can support families and children by understanding the unique needs of parents and caregivers, and adjusting the provision of public services to meet those needs. Parents and caregivers represent the needs of their family units and are the ones to speak for children who have yet to develop the ability to speak for themselves. Ensuring their wellbeing is critical to helping them do their job well as parents and caregivers. A myriad of public services impact families, not just those related to children’s development. Families are important units to consider in the design of all public services as the chart on page 51 illustrates. Their needs are complex, unique and are impacted by every facet of cities.
Case Study #19
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Case Study #17 Education Development Instrument (EDI) Tool 7. Analyze children’s behaviour through informed observation
Project Profile City: developed in Hamilton, Canada, applied worldwide Organization: Offord Center for Child Studies, McMaster University Partners: Human Early Learning Partnership, UBC Partnership: institutional Target Group: 4-6 year old children Offord Center for Child Studies
Context
Notes for Application
The objective of the Early Development Instrument (EDI) tool is to measure children’s development and ensure a smooth transition from early childhood to school age in children. The areas measured are predictors for social, health and education outcomes later in life. It is a retrospective tool to assess the changes that have occurred overtime across communities. This helps indicate vulnerabilities in communities and to identify actions to provide help in those areas. The EDI tool allows proactive decision-making about specific neighbourhoods and communities.
• Kindergarten teachers use the tool in the second half of the year, once they have had the opportunity to spend some time getting to know the children. • The EDI method could be adapted to collect relevant information that would inform certain projects or neighbourhood development strategies. For example, if teachers were to observe and record children’s behavior outdoors, this could provide an additional layer of insight into how to plan a park or schoolyard for optimal use throughout the year.
Methods and Strategies The Early Development Instrument tool is a 103-item questionnaire that kindergarten teachers complete to assess children’s development in five main areas; physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development, and communication skills and general knowledge. Over the school months, teachers get to know the children’s habits, behaviours and personalities through their interactions and observations. As such, they are in a qualified position to attest to children’s development and to assess them using the EDI tool. by determining the areas of child vulnerability in a community we can pinpoint where services may be better allocated, or whether any neighbourhoods need be a priority area for extra care.
For more information, visit: https://edi.offordcentre.com/
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Context
Case Study #18 Co-designing an Infant Feeding Resource with HIV Postive Mothers 8. Co-design resources
Project Profile City: Toronto, Canada Organization: CATIE Partners: And Also Too, The Teresa Group, Women’s College Hospital Partnership: charity, public-private Target Group: HIV-positive mothers 44
Pixabay
CATIE, an HIV and Hepatitis C information source in Toronto, partnered with a charity, hospital, and collaborative design studio to create an infant feeding resource for HIV positive mothers. HIV positive mothers come across conflicting information about breastfeeding when trying to make the right choice on how to best feed their babies while protecting them from HIV. The purpose of codesigning a resource on feeding babies was to work with the mothers to accurately represent information they would be accessing.
Methods and Strategies And Also Too, a collaborative design studio sat down one evening with a group of HIVpositive new mothers to do a scan of existing resources available to them. The group cut out images and words to create a collage for how they’d want a resource on infant feeding to look like. They had conversations on how these resources made them feel and emphasized creating a discreet resource so they could read it in public without visibly disclosing their status as HIV positive. They expressed a concern for seeing happy, healthy babies in the resource; to show their babies would be okay, regardless of the mother’s status as HIV positive. The mothers came up with a straightforward title together ‘Is Formula Good for My Baby?’ and hoped the resource would help all mothers to think about the right choice for them. By co-designing the resource with HIV positive
mothers, the resource was designed by a group, for the group. It empowers HIV positive mothers to have control over how and what information is being delivered to them, and how they feel about its representation.
Notes for Application • Incorporate open-ended activities that allow people to express themselves in various ways without directing them to a particular outcome. • Consider the sensitivity of the conservations and activities at hand to inform the environment it will be held in, ensuring it is comfortable for everyone and private, if needed. • Given that designing resources is a timeintensive endeavor, provide support in forms that are context-appropriate, such as daycare for children, monetary compensation, and/or food to show appreciate for participants’ time. • Consider incorporating activities to build trust and break the ice with the group.
For more information, visit: https://www.andalsotoo.net/stories/codesigning-with-hiv-positive-mothers/
Pixabay
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Case Study #19 Early Parenting Needs in Tel AvivYafo 9. Understand the unique needs of parents and caregivers
Project Profile City: Tel Aviv, Israel Organization: City of Tel Aviv; Municipal Department of Community, Culture & Sport Partners: Municipal Department of Social Economic Research, Urban95 Project Date: 2017 Target Group: parents and caregivers 46
Pixabay
Context
Methods and Strategies
The City of Tel Aviv is reaching out to parents of young children to understand the needs and challenges of raising a family in the city with the support of Urban95. Through this initiative, Tel Aviv is taking a multi-generational approach to understand the services needed for the wellbeing of parents and children. The focus is on the multitude of service needs of families –from employment to mental health, family budgeting management to child care—in an effort to make public services receptive to the changing needs of families in cities. While there are well-baby clinics and some child care services available in Tel Aviv, many services are private or scarce. Where services do exist, many families simply don’t know about them because the services are not well-connected with the families in the community. Through the focus groups with 100 parents, Tel Aviv aims to develop services to meet those needs and think about integrating parenting services into the existing community centers. The data collected will demonstrate to decision makers and the municipality the needs of parents and help design and allocate new and existing services and infrastructure.
Tel Aviv recruits parents through social media and with the help of local community activists. The nine focus groups include 10-12 parents each and include parents across Tel Aviv. The parents are organized into focus groups based on the children’s age; pregnant women to children under 2; parents with two children under 6 years old. The focus groups aim to capture a mix of cultural and socioeconomic groups. The focus groups take place in local community spaces in a group discussion style moderated by professional facilitators. Parents talk about what they like and don’t like about being parents, things that could have better prepared them to be better parents, etc. They discuss their needs such as the major challenges of being a parent in the city, urgent needs, and gaps in services available. As a group, the parents prioritize the needs and discuss how to respond to the needs, and whether any current services fill these gaps. Together with the city, they plan how they see envision services being delivered and help to design them.
Notes for Application • Consider incorporating activities to build trust and break the ice with the group. • Some of these conversations and activities touch on sensitive topics. Pay close attention to the environment where you are hosting these conversations, ensuring that it is comfortable for everyone, and private, if necessary. • Different groups have different barriers to engagement. Think about how the intersections of gender, race, class, culture, language ability, and physical ability inform a person’s desire or ability to participate in an engagement initiative, and how you can accommodate that.
(Pixabay)
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Toronto, Canada
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MOVING FORWARD
3
Promote children’s participation in issues that not only affect them, but their wider community. It is not just child to child, but child to family, child to community. Celine Woznica, Child to Child
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What Cities Can Do Recommendations for cities wanting to implement strategies for engaging young children, pregnant women and families:
2. Take a multi-sector approach
3. Dedicate a consistent source of funding
1. Take an integrated, holistic approach
Forming networks across sectors leverages the strengths of each sector to engage young children and families. Local community organizations provide local knowledge and have longstanding relationships with residents, which makes them a valuable resource in reaching the community. Private sector partners can provide specialized services and programs to young children, pregnant women and families that can further support engagement efforts. The Business Forum on Early Childhood, held in Paraguay is an example of a strategic alliance between UNICEF and the private sector to promote service delivery programs with the government and civic society.
An on-going strategy for engaging young children, pregnant women and families requires a continuous, reliable source of funding. The failure to engage these groups often comes from lack of funding and resources allocated to this process, and commonly results in sporadic or lost opportunities for engagement. Consider dedicating funding beyond a project basis by tying funding to a policy or long-term program. Funding opportunities could be introduced to enable organizations or city departments who do not typically engage these groups to support efforts to bring news voice into their processes.
Engaging young children, pregnant women and families in city building processes needs to be approached in a holistic manner. All departments within a city have a shared responsibility and a role to play in creating better cities for and with children and families. Working with all departments to engage these groups will contribute to the well-being of families in all aspects of their life, which contributes to the success of a healthy city. Boa Vista, Brazil’s Familia Que Acolhe program is an excellent example of an integrated, holistic approach to engaging these groups and supporting their overall health.
Case Study #20 50
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Here are just some of the impacts that various departments have on young children, pregnant women and families:
PARKS
PUBLIC HEALTH
EDUCATION
Manage and maintain green spaces children and families play in
Ensure women and families receive high quality of services
Create a structure of learning for children
Provide access to spaces for relaxation and physical activity
Ensure on-time vaccination of children
Provide opportunities for parents and caregivers to improve skills and training
Provide support and promotion for breastfeeding in public spaces
EMPLOYMENT
HOUSING
Ensure parents and caregivers have access to employment and income
Ensure adequate housing options for all families
Provide child-friendly and breastfeeding friendly work spaces
Support families requiring government-subsidized housing options
Provide support and resources for families in caring for their children
CULTURE & EVENTS Host opportunities for families to connect with their community
Provide maternity leave and parental leave options for pregnant women and parents 51
Context
Case Study #20 Familia Que Acolhe Program 1. Take an integrated, holistic approach
In 2012, as Federal Deputy of Brazil, Teresa Surita was invited to take an advanced course in Harvard University about early childhood development. There she uncovered the importance of incorporating early childhood development into her work on all fronts. In 2013, as mayor of Boa Vista, she pushed the boundaries to make early childhood development (ECD) a priority. In Boa Vista, 66% of the population lives below the poverty line. The city also has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country. It was an uphill battle to incorporate ECD into public policy due to the lack of information of examples of ECD work in Brazil. Mayor Surita’s vision for Boa Vista was to establish the city as a capital of Early Childhood Development in Brazil.
An Integrated Approach
Project Profile City: Boa Vista, Brazil Organization: City of Boa Vista Partnership: municipal Project Date: 2016 Target Group: pregnant mothers, children 0-6 years old, parents and caregivers, families 52
City of Boa Vista
The FQA network integrates municipal departments such as health, social services, education, community services, finance and communication. The FQA network is driven by a managing committee and 2,000 employees who have been trained to implement the public policy on the ground. The FQA program provides support during gestation, provides antenatal support, birth assistance, medical attendance, guidance on early childhood care for parents and children 0-2 years, daycares centers for 2-4 year old children and preschool children 4-6 years old. The program has a system of accompaniment and monitoring
of children development that is implemented through home visits at the gestation to 0-2 year old phase and the doctor's appointments. In FQA Center there is the Baby University program to provide parents with information on how to best care for their babies. For children aged 2-4 years old, they run the Casas Mae Daycare (House of Mothers Daycare), where children stay all day long, having 5 meals a day, bath, snaps and can play together. The various departments in the FQA network are responsible for implementing the program and providing support in their area of expertise.
From Program to Integrated Public Policy: Ensuring Continued Support The program has met with incredible success and the evaluations highlight not only impressive results, but also the high demand for programs that target mothers, babies and families overall. The number of prenatal visits has increased 50%, registered birth records have increased 59%, vaccination rates in children have increased 33%, and school attendance has shot up by 90%. In 2014, the FQA program was codified into municipal law (Law 1.545) to ensure the program continues to serve Boa Vista beyond Mayor Surita’s time in office. The FQA program is an excellent example of a municipal program with shared responsibilities across multiple departments, and guaranteed stability and protection through law.
Home Visits In the initial phase of developing the programs, city staff drew maps to document where pregnant women live. The maps help staff determine where home visits are needed for pregnant mothers and babies or families in difficult situations. The home visits are led by a team of social workers, doctors, teachers and psychologists. Collectively, these home visit teams represent education, social services and health departments. The FQA team conduct home visits every 15 days with at least two staff visiting each home. One staff person collects data about the household and family conditions, while the other staff person assesses the development of children. Information about the health of the family is also collected. The team provides caregivers with assistance and training to treat their children for illnesses, and to interact with them in ways that support their development. For pregnant women, FQA provides seven prenatal and pediatric consultations. The program has operated at full capacity since launching.
Baby University Baby University helps parents develop skills to care for their baby. Parents learn about good hygienic and feeding practices through workshops, hands-on practice, courses, and readings. They have shantala practices with their babies. They learn how to play with them, to read and to talk to them. Parents receive information about cognitive improvements.
Baby University also supports cross program activities with the Casas Mae Daycare where parents have the opportunity to learn firsthand at established daycares. The objective of the program is to support parents in caring for their children and strengthening their bonds.
Casa Mae Daycares (House of Mothers) + Leitura Desole o Berco (Reading Since the Crib) The Casa Mae daycares approaches daycare as an opportunity for ECD through education and literacy. The Reading Since the Crib program instils early reading habits in children so they develop a lifelong interest in reading. This reading program has led to a 14% increase in working memory, a 27% increase in vocabulary, 25% reduction in children with behavioural programs. The program also led to a 50% increase in the number of families who read reading three times or more per week. The results demonstrate a variety of benefits for children and families, and highlight the value of taking a holistic and collaborative approach to ECD.
and participant feedback continually inform new strategies to better serve families in Boa Vista. The City Hall has some national and international partnerships already established such as with the IDB InterAmerican Development Bank, Maria CecĂlia Souto Vidigal Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada and Bernard Van Leer Foundation. A formal training process was introduced to ensure a standard of professional training for all staff in the FQA network. Independent evaluations of the program, including one recently conducted by New York University, ensure the FQA network continues to deliver high quality service. Boa Vista has also invested in the technological structure that supports the process of management and monitoring services for early childhood. The city is implementing an integrated platform for health, education and social services systems, which will be responsible for monitoring and identifying families who are not seeking basic public services from pregnancy to the child's sixth year.
Maintaining Familia Que Acolhe Program The FQA network continues to make improvements to the program design, education methodology and physical program spaces based on feedback from families and partners of the program. Program evaluations
The FQA program provides integrated services for both parents and children. (Boa Vista, Brazil) Image source: https://br.pinterest.com/ pin/342273640406396867/?lp=true
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4. Collect data from and invest in front-line staff
5. Make participation free and accessible
6. Engage the entire community
Staff who interact with young children, pregnant women and families on a daily basis can provide a wealth of knowledge on the habits, concerns and preferences of these groups, based on observations and interactions. Frontline staff are a valuable source of information as they understand firsthand how people access services or use spaces. Build capacity in the frontline staff by investing in their training to work with these groups. Frontline staff can serve as a bridge to reach these groups to provide information and services, or collect feedback.
Participation and engagement should never be a financial burden for anyone. The opportunity to participate should be made as easy as possible, and families should, when possible, be compensated for their time. Compensation may take the form of transportation subsidies, providing refreshments, or offering free childcare while parents participate in engagement activities.
Regardless of the topic or target group, engagement must be inclusive of as many diverse voices as possible. An engagement process that reaches out solely to children 0-5 years old will not succeed. Engagement programs and initiatives that have the most impact reach out to caregivers, teachers, health care professionals, and other stakeholders that care about or interact with young children. For example, Getting Ready for School programs (introduced earlier) were most successful when the entire community was engaged in the program from the start. Children had more sessions for learning at home and in the community, because the community had been engaged in supporting the program and its goals.
Frontline staff can also provide informed observations that can be collected as data through various tools. One example is the Early Development Indicator (EDI) tool which teachers use to observe and record the development of kindergarten children. This tool assesses the development of children using various metrics and indicators, which teachers who have known the children for some time can adequately speak to.
People exist in a network of ties across generations and relationships and inherently influence one another. Children are connected to their parents and caregivers, who are connected to employees and neighbours, grandparents and friends. When the entire community is engaged in the process, everyone can support the specific group that is being engaged.
Case Study #21
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Context
Case Study #21 Humara Bachpan Campaign Child-led Neighbourhood Planning 6. Engage the entire community
Project Profile City: various cities in India Organization: Humara Bachpan Partnership: local, municipal Partners: Bernard van Leer Foundation, Community for Change (CRC) Target Group: children, parents and caregivers, community members Humara Bachpan
Humara Bachpan (HBC) is a national campaign in India that works with children and families from urban poor neighbourhoods to create safe and inclusive child-friendly cities. In India, children’s needs are not represented in any urban planning processes. The Child-led neighbourhood planning process run by HBC brings together children, parents, grandparents and community members to understand, analyze and find solutions to problems in their local slums. Children engage in neighbourhood walks and intensive mapping exercises of their neighbourhood to determine areas for improvement and come up with a plan for their ‘dream neighbourhood’ in the end. Childleaders from the group receive leadership training and become equipped with the skills to advocate to local and municipal leaders for the neighbourhoods’ needs. The Child-led planning (CLP) process has been piloted in 115 slums in 5 cities of India (Delhi, Mumbai, Surat, Chennai and Bhubaneswar). Through the CLP process, children in the community have made significant improvements to child-friendliness of their neighbourhoods. The CLP process helps build cohesion in neighbourhoods among all age groups and community members by engaging everyone in the process.
Capacity Building within the Community HBC collects secondary data on the slum in order to select a neighbourhood. The selection criteria pertains to the number of houses in the slum; demographics such as the number of kids; facilities and services in the slum; government programs implemented in the slum and; aspects of the program that have been implemented and what have not been implemented. Once the slum is selected, HBC hosts capacity building programs for parents and community members in the slum to run the program with children. They clearly outline the objectives of the process and the role parents, children and community members will play. To bring people together, they host Mother’s Group Meetings, folkdances, and streetplay to build interest in the community and from passerbys. The activities take place in open spaces within the slum that everyone is familiar with, and visit often. Community members must have a positive attitude and commitment to the working with children in the CLP process. HBC holds an Environment Building Campaign to bring children together and discuss the issue. Children lead a transect walk to explore the slum and identify a list of features and resources located in their neighbourhood.
Children’s Mapping Exercises Children create all sorts of maps as part of the Situation Analysis step of the process to grasp 55
the current situation and where they need to begin. Below is a list of the types of mapping exercises carried out by children in the slums, often in communal public spaces: 1. Social Mapping: Children walk through the slum to count and map out the number of resources such as streetlights, cesspools, taps and temples. They plot the items on the map to know exactly where resources are and where they are needed. 2. Institution Mapping: Children map out the institutions located in their immediate and larger community. They draw big circles around the institution with which they have good relationships with. Through this step, the children pointed out that they learned of institutions they previously did not know existed in the community. 3. Mobility Mapping: Children map out the key points of interest and the distance between different points such as the beach, park, school and bus stop. 4. Historical Mapping: Community members map out key changes in the neighbourhood over the years in order to draw comparisons and track progress overtime. 5. Daily Activity Map: Children kept track of all the activities they do all day and recorded them together in charts. The children found that the girls were doing more chores and tasks than the boys and this may be hurting them. Parents learned this from the children, and recognized where they could play a part in reducing the gender discrimination. 56
6. Seasonality Mapping: Together with parents, children mapped out seasonal diseases that impact them and drew diagrams to show the causes and effects. They learned that they could take certain preventive measures to avoid the diseases.
Using Collected Data to Identify Problems Once the neighbourhood mapping exercises were complete, children took part in the Problem Analysis step. On the ground in their community they drew a tree to represent the problem, causes and solutions. Through community-facilitated activities, children prioritized the problems which needed to be solved first and analyzed the potential solutions which could be implemented. This step was informed by all of the mapping they had done to determine specific areas for improvement and community needs. For the final mapping exercise, children drew a ‘dream map’ of their neighbourhood. Children 0-6 years old worked together to create the maps which represented what they wanted the most-often a house that was safer and healthier for them.
Stakeholder Mapping & Advocacy Children identified departments at various levels to approach to solve the particular problem. Throughout the CLP process, community leaders identified child-leaders and selected them for leadership training to enable
them to voice their concerns to stakeholders. The training built children’s confidence in how to discuss the topics and advocate on behalf of the children to leaders at the local, municipal and regional level. Children arranged meetings with the selected stakeholders to make their case for neighbourhood improvements, to create their child-friendly communities. Many stakeholders are responsive to their needs and children have seen tangible results in their neighbourhood as a result of their advocacy.
Notes for Application • Program facilitators must stay committed to the process and not run away from the problems the community presents • Parents and community members should facilitate the process with children-not manipulate • Children must be treated equally throughout the process and not be discriminated against in any shape or form • Host children’s activities in local spaces children frequent and are familiar with • Be clear about the planning process to parents and community members at the start of the process so they are aware of their children’s participation and are able to support children in the community accordingly
Odisha, India
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Afterword
I
n this report, we have highlighted examples of programs, service providers, researchers, and practitioners who are unwavering in their dedication to developing solutions with and for their youngest constituents. These 21 case studies from 16 countries are the best, most pioneering approaches that can be adapted to any context to improve the way cities meet the needs of young children, their caregivers, and pregnant women. These case studies also demonstrate an evolution in the practice of community engagement, city governance, and service provision. Currently, most municipal administrations around the world require some form of community engagement to inform the development of new plans, services, and projects. However, the amount of rigour that is applied to these processes varies widely among cities. In the worst cases, municipal staff view community engagement as merely a bureaucratic box to tick, to be completed with minimal effort and resources. In the best cases, it is deep dive into co-creating the future of cities with and for the people who live in them. 58
Through our scan, we found that even cities with the most sophisticated approaches to community engagement have fallen short when it comes to engaging their youngest citizens. We were unable to find a single city in the world that applied a holistic, integrated approach to engaging young children, their caregivers, and/or pregnant women in the city building process. Instead, most examples we came across were very localized. No matter how innovative or successful these case studies were, the impact they had was limited to the scope of whatever project they were a part of. They are inspiring and effective examples that other cities can and should learn from, but they are not scaled to the needs and pressures that cities face today. In showcasing best practices of existing models for engaging young children, their caregivers, and pregnant women in the city building process, we have only just scratched the surface of what is possible. We should now become concerned with “next practices” –scaling up these established best practices while also pushing for new models where
the insights and considerations of young children and their families are embedded into all levels and sectors of governance. Only then will cities be truly accountable to the needs of their youngest citizens. This is in line with the goals of Bernard Van Leer Foundation’s Urban 95 initiative which seeks to work with those in city governance to incorporate a focus on early childhood development into the planning and management of cities. This is a work in progress and there are many ways to get there. For some cities, this might look like a designated staff person who works across departments to ensure that the “Urban 95” or “8 80 Cities” lens is embedded in all municipal policies, programs, and projects. For other cities it may be a new set of “child-friendly” policies that is part of every departmental mandate. We look forward to uncovering these possibilities, towards the creation of happier, healthier, and more equitable cities for all.
Ajax, Canada
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Appendix: List of Expert Interviewees Jens Aerts Urban Planning and Policy Expert, Sustainability and Policy Action Data, Research and Policy UNICEF New York City, USA Thomas Archer Assistant Director Ohio State 4-H Youth Development Program Colombus, USA Linda Buchanan City Councilor City of North Vancouver North Vancouver, Canada Yolana Corona Caraveo Professor Metropolitan Autonomous University Mexico City, Mexico Maria Consuelo Araujo Castro Secretary of Social Integration Bogota, Colombia 60
Claudia Ceccon Project Coordinator CECIP- Centro de Criação de Imagem Popular (Popular Image Creation Center) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Louise Chawla Professor Emeritus University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado Nilda Cosco Director of Programs at Natural Learning Initiative Research Associate Professor at College of Design, North Carolina State University Raleigh, USA Gina Crivello Senior Research Officer Young Lives Oxford, UK
Yurani Miledis Martinez Diaz International Strategy Coordinator Office of the Secretary of Social Integration Bogota, Colombia Ana Florencio Communication Assistant to the Mayor City of Boa Vista Boa Vista, Brazil Jeanette Frisk Architect & Urban Designer Partner of arki_lab Arki_lab Copenhagen, Denmark Juan David Villamarin Garcia Manager of Urban95 Office of the Secretary of Social Integration Bogota, Colombia Tim Gill Independent Scholar, Consultant & Advocate on Childhood Rethinkingchildhood.com London, United Kingdom
Jillian Glover Urbanist & Communication Specialist ThisCityLife Vancouver, Canada M. Elena Lopez Associate Director Global Family Research Project Boston, USA
Juan David Medina Rios Office Advisor, Cooperation & International Affairs Office of the Secretary of Social Integration Bogota, Colombia Mayor Maria-Consuelo Teresa Surita Mayor of Boa Vista Boa Vista, Brazil
Kathryn Lusk Director of Project Management KaBOOM! Washington D.C., USA
Celine Woznica Director of Child-to-Child of the Americas Child to Child Chicago, USA
Robin Moore Director at Natural Learning Initiative Professor at College of Design, North Carolina State University Raleigh, USA
Leonardo Yanez Senior Representative Bernard van Leer Foundation Latin America
Luiza Superti Pantoja Information Science PhD Candidate University of Iowa Iowa City, USA
Jaime Zaplatosch Director of Green Schoolyards Children and Nature Network Chicago, USA
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Appendix: Resources Article 15 Project Article 15 of UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states children’s right to meet together and to join groups and organizations, as long as this does not stop other people from enjoying their rights. This toolkit provides 20 tools within 10 modules on addressing different topics related to children’s groups. http://crc15.org/ckit/ Best Start Resource Centre -How to Engage Families Resources that focus on skill development to help service providers address specific strategies preconception, prenatal and child health http://www.beststart.org/resources/howto/pdf/ BS_Engage_Families_fnl.pdf
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EDI Tool – Early Development Instrument The EDI is a short questionnaire completed by kindergarten teachers across Canada and internationally which measures children’s ability to meet age appropriate developmental expectations. https://edi.offordcentre.com/ Questionnaire Sample: https://edi.offordcentre.com/wp/wp-content/ uploads/2015/11/EDI-ON-2015-Eng-Jan-20.pdf Engaging Fathers in Programs for Families Specific program suggestions for engaging different types of fathers in programs for families. A resource on how to design programs for newcomer fathers, young dads, Aboriginal dads, gay/bisexual/queer/trans dads. https://www.beststart.org/resources/howto/ pdf/BSRC_Engaging_Fathers.pdf
Family Engagement Inventory The Family Engagement Inventory (FEI) is a free, interactive website designed to familiarize professionals in child welfare, juvenile justice, behavioral health, early childhood education, and education with family engagement, as defined and implemented across these fields of practice. https://www.childwelfare.gov/fei/ Good Governance for School Boards: Trustee Professional Development Program Module 9: Family & Community Engagement http://modules.ontarioschooltrustees.org/en/ family-and-community-engagement.html Harvard Family Research Project A list of research-based policy briefs and profiles on stimulating innovation and improvement in policy, practice and evaluation around the well-being of children, youth, families and their communities http://www.hfrp.org/family-involvement/ informing-family-engagement-policy2/statepolicy
Mother-Baby Friendly Work Places Guidelines for employers to design mother and baby friendly work places. http://www.sharjahbabyfriendly.ae/Portal/en/ sbf-campaign/mother-baby-friendly-workplaces/steps-for-work-places.aspx Pathway to Stewardship -Greater Peterborough, Ontario CA A resourced aimed at fostering pathways to stewardship in young children 0-5 years old. https://sustainablepeterborough.ca/wpcontent/uploads/2016/02/PATHWAY-TOSTEWARDSHIP-APRIL-2016.pdf The Impact of Poverty on Pregnant Women -A Guide for Program Managers A resource designed to assist program managers in supporting their frontline staff who work with pregnant women who live in poverty. http://www.beststart.org/resources/anti_ poverty/pdf/prog_mgr_guide.pdf
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/ Pages/CRC.aspx United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child -in Child-Friendly Language https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/ library/un-convention-rights-child-childfriendly-language
Y-PLAN DIY (Youth-Plan, Learn, Act Now) Centre for Cities + Schools An online DIY Do-It-Yourself tool for professionals working with young children. The toolkit helps develop programs for involving children in specific planning projects. http://y-plan.berkeley.edu/planning101
UNICEF Child Friendly City & Communities Initiative -Toolkit for National Committees Toolkit to implement the Child Friendly City and Communities Initiative and provide practical guidance for implementation of the Convention of the Rights of the Child at the local level. http://childfriendlycities.org/wp-content/ uploads/2017/02/CFCI_TOOLKIT_24.02.17.pdf
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